PRESCIEISrOE. 


SPEECH 


DELIVERED       BY 


HON.  BEVERLY  TUCKER, 


OF  VIRGINIA. 


IN  THE  SOUTHERN  CONVENTION, 


HET,D    AT 


NASHVILLE,    TENN., 


APRIL    13TH,    1850. 


RICHMOND,  VA: 

"V^EST  <Sc  JOnisrsTOisr. 

1862. 


George  Washington  Flowers 
Memorial  Collection 

DUKE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 


ESTABLISHED  BY  THE 

FAMILY  OF 

COLONEL  FLOWERS 


PRESCIEISrCE. 


SPEECH 


DELIVERED      BY 


HON.  BEVERLY  TUCKER, 


OF  VIRGINIA, 


IN  THE  SOUTHERN  CONVENTION, 


HELD    AT 


NASHVILLE,    TENN., 


APRIL    13Tn,    1850. 


RICHMOND,  VA: 

WEST  Sz  croHcisrsTOKr. 

]sr,2. 


PUBLISHER'S  ADVERTISEMENT. 


That  which  is  good,  scholarly,  and  statesmanlike,  in  poli- 
tics, should  never  be  permitted  to  perish.  That  the  follow- 
ing manly  and  able  speech,  so  singularly  prophetic  in  al- 
most all  of  its  theses,  possess,  to  an  eminent  degree,  these 
characteristics,  it  is  not  feared  that  the  candid  reader  will 
question.  It  contains  the  thoughts  of  a  Seer,  robed  in  the 
elegant  diction  of  a  scholar,  bravely  and  fearlessly  uttered. 
The  publishers  feel  that  they  need,  at  this  crisis,  offer  the 
public  no  apology  for  the  republication  of  such  a  produc- 
tion ;  but  if  such  apology  were  necessary,  they  might  plead 
the  pressing  requests  to  this  effect,  of  the  numerous  friends 
and  admirers  of  the  venerable  statesman,  the  offspring  of 
whose  genius  it  is. 


SPEECH. 


Mr.  President  : 

It  gives  me  pleasure  to  remember  that 
the  first  time  I  ventured  to  obtrude  myself  on  the  notice  of 
the  Convention,  it  was  done  in  hope  of  allaying  excitement. 
I  am  happy  to  belii-ve  that  my  few  remarks  contributed  tO' 
effect  that  object.  I  have  now  risen,  sir,  for  a  like  purpose. 
Indeed,  it  is  only  thus  that  I  can  hope  to  deserve  the  atten- 
tion of  the  house.  It  is  certainly  not  for  me,  in  whom  time 
has  quenched  the  fire  of  youth,  and  cliilled  the  fervour  of 
imagination,  with  my  weak  voice  and  lagging  utterance,  to 
pour  forth  those  tempests  of  eloquence  which  shake  the- 
walls  of  this  building,  call  down  the  plaudits  of  the  galle- 
ries, and  lead  captive  the  hearts  and  minds  of  men.  It 
can  only  be  by  "  speakirjg  forth  the  words  of  truth  and  so- 
berness," such  as  become  my  gray  hairs,  that  I  can  hope  to 
secure  the  respect  of  this  body  to  anything  that  I  may  say. 
My  colleague  (Mr.  Gholson)  has  asked  whether  any  gen- 
tleman here  present  is  prepared  to  say  that  the  Union 
should  be  dissolved  in  case  the  compromise  bill  be  passed 
with  amendments.  I  shall  not  deny  the  gentlemaru's  right 
to  put  such  questions,  insisting  at  the  same  time,  that  it 
rests  on  the  discretion  and  taste  of  every  other  gentleman 
to  decide  for  himsell'  wiiether  he  will  answer  or  no.  For  my 
part,  sir,  I  am  ready  to  aiiswer,  and  shall  answer,  fully  and 
frankly  ;  and  yet  I  apprehend  that  my  answer  will  leave 
the  gentleman  just  as  wise  as  he  is  now.  He  is  an  able  law- 
yer, and  would  hardly  put  such  an  interrogatory  as  that  in- 
to a  bill  :    "  Would  I  be  content  with  the  compromise  bill 


Amended?"  Certainly  sir.  I  should  be  more  than  content. 
I  should  be  deliglited.  But  then  I  must  have  the  amend- 
ing of  it.  I  know  nothing  that  cannot  be  amended  but 
cracked  egg  shells  and  abused  friendship.  Give  me  the 
mending  of  that  bill,  and  1  will  mend  the  breach  in  the 
•constitution,  and  cement  the  Union,  and  restore  mutual 
friendship  and  confidence,  and  brotherly  love  among  all 
the  States  of  this  great  Confederacy.  Is  this  answer  eva- 
sive because  it  tells  nothing  but  what  every  body  knows  ? — 
No  sir.  The  gentleman  did  not  ask  whether  I  would  go 
for  disunion  in  the  case  of  the  passage  of  that  bill  without 
amendment.  Pie  did  not  intend  to  ask  this.  The  ibrm  in 
which  he  has  presented  his  interrogatory,  shows  that  he 
himself  is  not  prepared  to  answer  that  question,  and  he  is 
too  ingenuous  to  press  it  upon  others.  But  I  do  not  shrink 
from  it,  though  I  can  say  no  more  than  that  I  too  am  not 
prepared  to  answer  it.  I  know  nobody  that  is,  sir,  and  it  is 
precisely  i'or  that  reason  that  we  are  here.  That  there  is 
•evil  in  the  land — that  we  have  been  wronged — that  dangers 
hang  over  us — all  this  every  body  knows.  But  the  remedy 
for  tlie  evil — the  redress  for  the  wrong — the  security  against 
the  danger — these  are  the  topics  which  we  are  sent  here 
to  consider  and  to  discuss,  so  that,  having  com])ared 
thoughts  and  obtained  light  from  each  other's  minds,  we 
may  shed  that  light  on  the  minds  of  those  who  sent  us.  I 
was  not  sent  here  to  represent  any  opinion  of  others,  or  to 
act  on  any  ft)regone  conclusion  of  mj^own.  In  .such  a  state 
of  mind,  I  should  have  been  unworthy  to  take  my  place 
among  the  able,  experienced,  candid,  and  upright  gentle- 
men by  Avhom  I  am  surrounded. 

In  one  thing  only  do  I  find  myself  bound.  Virginia  has 
said  authoi  itatively  and  almost  unanimously,  that  she  will 
resist  the  Wilmot  Proviso,  "  at  all  hazards,  and  to  the  last 
extremity;"  and  what  Virginia  says,  I  am  ever  ready  to 
vindicate  ;  and  what  Virginia  does,  I,  at  all  hazards  and  to 
the  last  extremity,  will  maintain. 

Virginia  never  means  k\ss  tlian  she  says  ;  and  the  crafty 
politicians  with  whom  she  had  to  do,  have  sought  to  evade 


the  point  of  this  declaration,  by  offering  instead  of  the 
"Wilmot  Proviso,  this  California  bill,  which  differs  from  it, 
as  he  who  burns  down  his  neighbor's  house  that  he  may 
plunder  differs  from  the  simple  burglar.  This  assertion  I 
shall  not  discuss  now,  I  have  already  discussed  it  in  a  pa- 
per which  is  before  the  Convention,  and  will  be  laid  before 
Virginia.  If  the  Governor  of  Virginia  thinks  as  I  do,  he 
will  summon  a  Convention  of  the  State  ;  and  if  that  Con- 
vention thinks  so  too,  it  will  be  for  that  body  to  decide  on 
the  mode  and  form  of  that  resistance  to  which  the  State  is 
pledged.  That  it  will  be  "  at  every  hazard  and  to  the  last 
extremity,"  no  one  can  doubt. 

Having  answered  my  colleague's  question,  I  beg  leave  to 
repeat  that  on  the  question  actually  before  the  Convention, 
I  intend  to  speak  with  all  moderation.'  In  proof  of  this,  I 
will  say,  sir,  that  had  the  language  of  the  address  been 
precisely  that  of  the  proposed  amendments,  T  should  have 
voted  for  it.  Had  any  one  proposed  to  amend  it,  so  as  to 
make  it  read  as  it  now  reads,  I  should  have  endeavoured 
privately  to  dissuade  him  from  bringing  forward  his  amend- 
ments, and  should  have  voted  against  them  if  necessary. 
As  the  matter  stands  I  am  entirely  satisfied  with  the  ad- 
dress as  it  is  ;  if  I  had  had  the  ear  of  the  gentleman  who 
has  brought  forward  the  amendments,  I  should  have  endea- 
voured to  dissuade  him  from  introducing  them,  and  now 
that  they  are  introduced,  I  shall  quietly  vote  against  them. 
I  take  to  myself  neither  shame  nor  praise  for  tins. 

Ik'tween  the  two  things  there  is  no  essential  difference, 
and  I  am  decided  mainly  by  the  comity  which  is  due  every 
committee.  It  is  enough  for  me  that  the  paper  before  us 
clearly  exiiresscs  our  sentiments,  and  those  of  the  Conven- 
tion, and  vindicates  them  ably,  and  had  I  the  vanity  to  be- 
lieve that  I  could  make  it  tenfold  more  eloquent  than  it  is, 
I  would  not  move  to  cross  a  T,  or  dot  an  I. 

But  while  I  am  thus  zealous  for  courtesy  and  harmony 
I  am  not  sorry  that  this  debate  has  sprung  up.  I  am  glad 
that  the  trammels  of  order  have  been  so  completely  bro- 
ken to  pieces  as  to  throw  open  every  subject,  on  which  an/ 


8 

gentleman  may  wish  to  speak.  We  all  owe  our  best 
thoughts  to  each  other  on  every  topic  which  a<ritates  the 
puhlic  mind.  It  is  for  that  wc  are  here,  and  every  thing 
that  concerns  the  rights,  the  wrongs,  the  remedies,  the  re- 
sources, and  the  duties  of  the  South,  their  duties  to  them- 
selves, their  ancestors,  their  children,  and  to  God,  all  is  be-  ♦ 
fore  us. 

I  beg  the  Convention  not  lo  he  alarmed  at  the  thought 
that  I  propose  to  talk  about  all  these  various  matters.  No 
sir,  I  have  nothing  in  view  but  to  apply  some  sort  of  seda- 
tive to  that  excitement  of  the  public  mind  which  has,  in 
some  degree,  manifefted  itgelf  in  this  debate.  Some  gen- 
tleman seem  to  speak  under  the  influence  of  a  vague  and 
uiidefinable  a])prehension  of  some  great  darjger,  the  more 
appalling  because  unseen,  though  not  more  real  than  the 
fiends  with  which  superstition  peoples  the  night.  Another 
sees  the  danger  and  defies   it, 

"Stiffens  tlie  sinews — summons  up  the  blood," 

while  every  tone  and  every  glance  is  that  of  one  who  ex- 
changes looks  and  words  of  defiance  Avith  a  present  ene- 
my. I  do  not  pretend  to  withhcdd  my  sympathy  fioni  either 
of  these.  Fear  is  contagious,  and  men  not  liable  to  super- 
stition have  become  frightened  while  playing  on  the  su[)er- 
Btitious  fears  of  others.  But  he  must  be  thrice  a  coward 
who  does  not  catch  infection  from  the  biave  men  who 
*' snuff  the  battle  from  afar,"  exulting  by  auticii)ation  in 
the  ceofaminis  gaudia.  But  after  all  is  said  on  both  sides' 
and  calm  reflection  resumes  its  functions,  I  see  neither  gob- 
lin to  tiy  from  nor  enemy  to  fight.  On  the  contrary,  sir,  I  find 
myself  in  a  condition  which  enahles  me  alike  "  to  cut  away 
all  wraih  and  doubting,"  and  to  say  to  the  one  "  there  is 
nothing  to  fear" — to  the  other,  "  there  will  bo  no  fight." 
We  have  a  pretty  epigrammatic  saying  about  men  •■  who 
know  their  rights,  and,  knowing,  dare  maintain  j,heni  ;" 
l)ut  I  am  afraid  there  are  some  who  would  rather  not  know 
their  lights,  tJian  be  obliged  to  defend  them  at  all  hazards" 
and  to  the  last  extremity.     Nothing  so  blia  .s  the  mind, 


disables  the  faculties  and  perverts  tlie  judgment  as  fear, 
and  what  fear  can  be  mure  appalling  tlian  that  which  threa- 
tens the  security  of  the  firesides  in  a  country  which  no  hos- 
tile foot  has  trod  for  seventy  years.  I  acknowledge,  sir, 
that  if  I  saw  a  danger  of  this,  I  might  have  some  misgiv- 
ings, and  perhaps  decide  that,  instead  of  leaving  such  an 
inheritance  to  the  little  ones  that  must  soon  be  left  without 
a  protector,  I  would  n)ake  up  my  mind  to  sneak  quietly  to 
an  (ibscure  grave,  and  thereJiide  my  gray  head  and  my  die- 
honour  together. 

r>ut,  sir,  I  have  no  such  fear  ;  and  I  do  but  judge  others 
by  myself,  when  I  say,  that  among  all  the  topics  which  cau 
present  themselves  for  discussion  here,  there  is  none  so  im- 
portant as  this.  If  we  wish  the  free  exercises  of  our  own 
reason,  if  we  wish  to  act  with  effect  on  the  reasons  of  oth- 
ers, we  must  divest  our  minds  and  theirs  of  fear.  When 
yuu  see  a  boy  flying  irom  his  shadow  and  about  to  throw 
himself  into  the  water,  if  you  wish  to  stop  him,  don't  tell 
him  of  the  depth  of  the  water.  The  one  thing  to  bo  said 
to  him,  and  the  only  thing  he  will  hear,  is,  that  the  pursuer 
is  not  the  devil,  that  it  is  no  more  than  his  own  shach^w. 
Make  him  sensible  of  this,  and  he  will  presently  be  as  much 
alive  to  the  evil  of  being  drowned  as  you  can  desire.  Just 
so,  sir,  if  we  can  convince  our  people  that  the  fierce  philan- 
thropy and  malignant  love  of  our  northern  brethren  will 
never  manifest  themselves  by  carrying  fire  and  sword 
tlirciugh  the  borders  of  a  Southern  Confederacy,  they  may 
bring  themselves  to  see  that  the  loss  of  a  thousand  millions 
of  slave  property — the  destruction  of  all  value  in  our  lands 
for  want  of  labour,  the  necessity  of  destroying  the  negroes, 
or  of  amalgamating  with  them,  or  of  succumbing  to  thera, 
or  of  fleeing  the  country  and  giving  it  up  to  thera,  are  really 
very  bad  things.  Is  it  too  much  to  su[)pose  that  they  may 
also  begin  to  suspect  that  an  eternal  separation  from  those 
whom  pretended  fanaticism  and  malignant  rapacity  would 
drive  to  this  extremity,  would  be  any  thing  but  an  evil? 
Let  us  speak  to  them  then,  not  of  their  wrongs,  for  thcvse 
they  know,  but  of  their  remedies  and  their  resources  ,  not   in 


10 

the  tone  of  dismay  and  despair,  but  with  words  ofencourage- 
ment,  in  accents  of  hope,  full  of  joyful  expectation. 

Let  me  not  be  met  again,  sir,  with  the  still  repeated 
ciickoo  song,  "the  people  are  not  prepared  for  tliis  or 
that  measure."  I  know  it,  sir.  The  people  are  not  pre- 
pared, and  therefore  we  are  here.  They  are  not  prepared 
to  lie  down  patiently  under  their  wrongs — they  are  not 
prepared  to  submit  to  further  aggression,  and  unfortu- 
nately they  are  still  unprepared  to  decide  how  the  wrong  is 
to  be  redressed,  and  the  aggression  repelled.  Just  so,  sir, 
the  patient  is  not  prepared  to  submit  to  the  amputation  of 
the  gangrened  limb,  while  the  surgeons  are  still  consulting 
in  a  hope  that  operation  will  not  be  necessary.  But  still 
less  is  he  prej)ared  to  die  ;  and  when  put  to  choose  between 
the  loss  of  a  limb  and  the  loss  of  life,  we  know  what  choice 
he  will  make.  So  let  the  peo})le  of  the  South  once  see  dis- 
tinctly they  must  choose  between  the  Union,  and  all  the 
rights  and  interests  that  the  Union  was  intended  to  protect, 
and  they  will  not  hesitate  to  renounce  it,  even  though  a 
bloody  war  should  be  the  consequence.  Still  there  is  enough 
of  terrible  and  fearful  in  the  thought  of  such  a  war,  to  dis- 
pose them  to  shut  their  eyes  to  other  and  greater  dangers. 
It  is  that  they  may  be  thus  blinded,  that  their  enemies  tell 
them  that  a  peaceful  separation  is  impossible  ;  and  it  is  the 
ho])e  of  restoring  them  to  the  use  of  their  Acuities  that  I 
undertake  to  show,  and  will  proceed  to  show,  that  such  an 
event  cannot  be  any  thing  but  peaceful. 

It  is  Mr.  Webster,  who,  of  late,  in  his  oracular  way,  and 
in  his  deep  cavernous  tones,  such  as  might  issue  from  the 
cave  of  Trophonius,  has  put  forth  this  raw  head  and  bloody 
bones  declaration,  "  that  a  peaceful  severance  of  the  Union 
is  impossible."  I  beseech  you  to  consider  what  these  words 
mean,  as  spoken  by  Mr.  Webster.  He  has  no  right  to 
si)eak  for  the  South.  We  are  not  his  clients.  No  part  of 
that  liberal  fee  which  Massachusetts  has  paid  to  secure  his 
advocacy  of  her  peculiar  interests  on  the  floor  of  the  senate 
was  contributed  by  us.  She  is  his  country,  his  whole  coun- 
try, and  for  her  only  has  he  a  right  to  speak.     But  when 


11 

have  we  said  this,  and  who  has  said  it  for  us  ?  What  mo- 
tive, what  means,  what  end  could  a  Southern  Confederacy 
have  for  making  war  upon  the  North?  Sir,  no  man  among 
us  dreams  of  such  a  thing — no  northern  man  apprehends 
it.  What  then  mean  these  words  of  Mr.  Webster  ?  Are 
they  anything  but  woi'ds  of  menace?  When  we  of  the 
South  do  but  cry  out  "  don't  tread  on  us,"  we  beseech  you 
by  tlie  memories  of  the  past  and  tlie  hopes  of  the  future, 
"don't  tread  on  us,"  tliey  call  that  menace.  "  Certainly 
it  is  menace,"  say  they,  "  for  do  you  not  mean  to  intimate, 
that  if  we  do  tread  on  you,  you  will  strike?  Yes,  it  is  me- 
nace, and  as  such  we  despise  it.  For  have  we  not  trod  on 
you,  and  you  did  not  strike?  And  are  we  not  treading  on 
you  and  you  do  not  strike,  and  if  you  attempt  to  elude  us 
by  secession,  we  will  trample  you  into  the  earth."  Sir,  I  did 
not  do  justice  to  the  strength  of  Mr.  Webster's  language 
when  I  called  it  the  language  of  menace.  It  is  much  more. 
It  is  outrage,  it  is  the  contemptuous  spurn  of  one  who 
scorns  to  strike  a  coward  foe. 

But  it  is  not  Mr.  Webster  alone  who  has  said  this.  Mr. 
Clay  echoes  it,  and  he  is  a  southern  man.  Gen.  Cass, 
too,  echoes  it,  and  is  not  he  a  nortiieru  man  with  southern 
principles?  A  marvellous  coincidence  of  opinion,  sir,  among 
men  who  so  rarely  think  alike  !  But  is  there  not  some- 
thing yet  more  marvellous  in  the  triple  league  of  amity, 
between  these  men,  heretofore  so  hostile?  An  ominous  con- 
junction, sir.  Clay,  Webster  find  Cass — Ctesar,  Pompey  and 
Crassus— Augustus,  Antony  and  Lepidus  !  Triumvirates 
all  !  Depend  upon  it,  sir,  this  precise  number  three  is  not 
fortuitous.  It  is  full  of  meaning,  when  two  men  of  un- 
principled ambition  are  contending  for  supremacy;  when 
they  put  down  all  other  competitors,  and  nothing  remains 
but  a  division  of  empire,  or  one  great  final  struggle  for  su- 
premacy, it  sometimes  happens,  that  all  things  are  not  pre- 
pared for  this  division,  or  the  final  struggle.  What  then 
BO  convenient  as  to  call  in  some  third  person,  some  "light, 
unmeritable  man,  fit  to  be  sent  on  errands,"  to  serve  as  a 
Btake-holder  until  the  others  should  be   ready  to   play  out 


12 

tlicir  desperate  game.  So  too,  in  France,  while  it  was  yet 
doubtf'.il  wliethcr  the  ultimate  triiimpli  would  be  to  the  corv- 
stitutioiial  theories  of  Sieves,  or  to  tiu;  military  despi>tism  of 
Bonaparte,  they  set  up  a  temporary  consulship.  The  idea 
of  consuls  was  talceu  i'rom  Ron)(',  where  there  were  two 
consuls.  Now  here  were  two  men  of  rival  parties,  and 
something  like  equal  consideration.  What  did  they  want 
with  a  third  ?  They  wanted  him  as  a  stake-holder — or,  as 
Talleyrand  then  said,  as  a  sort  of  wrapping  paper  between 
the  two,  to  prevent  collisions.  Hence  they  took  a  man, 
never  heard  of  before  or  since,  who  came  in,  he  knew  not 
how,  and  went  out,  no  one  else  knows  when. 

It  is  an  old  saying  that  ''when  rogues  fall  out,  honest 
men  come  by  their  own."  But  what  are  honest  men  to  do, 
sir,  when  men  long  hostile  to  each  other  ;  men  who,  for 
years,  have  spoken  all  manner  of  evil  against-  e.ach  other, 
are  seen  to  coalesce  ?  What  have  these  men  in  common? 
The}'  have  indeed  one  common  ol)ject — the  Presidency  ,  and 
they  DKiy  combine  to  put  down  every  thing  which  cannot 
be  made  to  rally  to  the  support  of  some  one  of  the  three  ; 
when  this  is  done  two  will  combine  to  run  oif  the  third. 
Lepidns  will  disappear,  and  then  comes  the  battle  of  Ac- 
tiiiin.  Hence  it  is,  sir,  that  this  southern  party  is  to  be 
nipped  in  the  bud.  The  nucleus  of  such  a  party  is  to  be 
broken  u}),  and  its  members  driven  back  to  their  old  posi- 
tions of  whiggery  and  democracy.  Why  is  this,  sir?  The 
reason  is  [)lain  enough  to  those  Avho  will  analyze  the  ques- 
tion. Will  a  southern  ])arty  follow  Mr.  Clay?  No,  sir. 
They  have  followed  him  lar  enough.  They  followed  him 
in  the  Missouri  compromise,  the  root  of  all  this  present  evil. 
They  followed  him  in  the  tariff  compromise  of" '33,  which 
•ended  in  the  crushing  tariff  of  '42,  They  can  follow  him 
no  longer. 

Can  they  follow  Mr.  Webster,  who  says  one  thing  to-day, 
and  takes  it  bar^k  to-morrow  !  Great  credit  is  clainied  for 
]\Ir.  Webster  because  he  made  a  si)eech  sometime  ago,  a 
part  of  which  it  was  thought  might  be  displeasing  to  some 
^f  his  constituents.     "Self-sacrificing,  magnanimous,  Mr. 


18 

Webster  !"  Such  was  the  cry.  Well,  sir,  did  he  sacri- 
fice himself?  Has- he  lost  ground?  Should  southern  whigs 
take  him  as  their  candidate  for  the  Presidency,  Avill  he 
lose  one  vote  in  New  Enghmd.  The  self-sacrifice  of  a 
man  whose  wliole  life  has  been  a  sacrifice  of  everything 
else  to  SELF  !  not  to  the  gratification  of  one  passion  only, 
but  of  all  !  Does  he  worship  at  the  shrine  of  ainbition  only? 
What  altar  of  the  deities  raised  up  by  the  evil  passions  of 
the  ancients  is  not  reeking  with  the  blood  of  his  victims? 
Is  it  Plutus?  Is  it  Bacchus?  Is  it  Venus?  We  do  not  in- 
deed find  him  in  the  temple  of  Mars;  and  that  for  the 
all-sufficient  reason,  that  he  who  would  find  acceiitance 
there,  must  go  prepared,  if  need  be,  to  make  a  sacrifice  of 
himself;  and  this,  Mr.  Webster,  ever  true  to  himself,  will 
never  do. 

Shall  we  put  up  with  Gen.  Cass?  Shall  we  look  for  the 
defence  of  our  rights  to  one  wliose  ideas  of  right  and  wrong 
are  so  confused,  that  he  prates  about  natural  rights  acquir- 
ed by  the  per[)etration  of  wrong  ;  a  shallow  pedant  who.  af- 
fectin<r  to  lecture  on  international  law,  and  the  philosophy 
of  government,  woidd  place  the  lives  and  property  of  tlie 
conquerors  at  the  mercy  of  a  conquered  province;  who  can 
see  no  distinction  between  a  chance  assemblage  of  uncon- 
nected individuals  and  a  people  ;  who  imagines  that  a  na- 
tion can  exist  where  there  is  no  family  ;  who  attributes  to  a 
multitude  of  adventurers  sovereignty  over  a  country,  in 
which  not  one  of  them  has  a  home;  who  recognizes  their 
right  to  shut  out  all  others  from  a  vast  region  in  whicli  not 
one  of  them  owns  a  foot  of  soil  ;  and  who  would  place  the 
final  destiny  of  a  country,  wliich  is  to  be  the  home  of  mill- 
rions,  in  the  hands  of  a  handful  of  marauders;  whose  only 
aim  is  to  tear  open  the  bowels  of  the  land,  seize  upon  its  hid- 
den treasures,  and  like  the  eagle  returning  to  his  eyrie, 
laden  with  his  prey,  to  bear  away  their  plunder  to  the  distant 
lands  where  lie  their  families  and  their  hopes?  Sir,  I  have 
never  much  admired  Gen.  Cass.  I  have  never  looked  ni)on 
him  as  much  better  than  a  claptrap  charlatan.  But  he  nev- 
er could  have  been  so  sillv  as  to  believe  himself  while  talk- 


14 

ing  all  tliis  nonsense.  Why  did  he  say  it  ?  Was  it  not  to  fool 
us — to  bamboozle  us — to  throw  his  pinch  of  dust  into  the  eyes 
of  tliose  among  us  wlio  look  to  him  for  light,  while  the  rest  are 
led  blindfold  by  Clay  and  Webster?  This  is  Gen.  Cass's  allot- 
ted function  in  the  triumvirate.  If  old  party  lines  can  be 
re-established  among  us;  if  instead  of  banding  together  in 
defence  of  the  South,  we  can  be  set  to  wrangling  with  each 
other  about  party  names — if  the  southern  democracy,  thus 
reorganized,  will  take  up  Gen.   Cass  for  its  candidate,  the 

northern  democracy  will  support  him  too,  and  then -1 

Yes,  then  he  may  at  last  be  president,  and  somebody  else 
may  be  vice  president,  and  seven  more  somebodies  may  be 
cabinet  ministers,  and  a  dozen  more  foreign  ministers,  to 
say  nothing  of  rich  collectorships,  fat  consulships,  and  a  hun- 
dred other  good  things,  all  of  which  are  bespoke  in  advance. 
But  look  onl}'  at  those  offices  which  are  set  apart  for  those 
who  set  up  for  being  party  loaders,  and  whom  we,  poor  fools, 
follow  and  call  great.  Remember,  sir,  there  are  three  sets 
of  tliem,  all  duly  registered,  each  in  his  order  on  the  seve- 
ral rosters  of  Clay,  Webster  and  Cass,  and  then  wonder  if 
you  can,  that  among  all  these  great  men  there  is  not  one  to 
8ay  a  word  for  the  wronged,  insulted,  down-trodden  South  ! 

But  Gen.  Cass  cannot  be  elected,  sir.  The  South  cannot 
elect  him,  and  the  North  will  not.  No,  sir.  Let  the  pre- 
sent agitation  be  allayed — let  the  South  bow  the  neck  to 
the  nothern  yoke,  and  Gen.  Cass  will  be  laid  upon  the  shelf 
forever.  Like  Lepidus,  his  name  will  vanish  upon  the  page  of 
history  ;  and  the  leaders  among  us  who  luive  enlisted  under 
his  banner  for  the  campaign,  will  again,  when  it  is  too 
late,  be  clamorous  as  ever  for  the  rights  of  the  South,  and 
try  to  negotiate  terms  for  us,  but  most  especially  for  them- 
selves, in  bargaining  away  the  support  of  the  South  lor 
Clay  or  Webster.  The  highest  bidder  of  the  two  will  have 
them. 

But  am  I  not  afraid  to  speak  thus  lightly  of  the  great 
ones  of  t!ie  earth?  Am  I  n(jt  ashametl  to  speak  evil  of  dig- 
nitaries? Dignity,  sir  !  Show  me  true  dignity.  Tell  me 
where  to  find  the  enlightened  mind,  tlie  elavated  sentiment. 


15 

the  great  purpose,  the  pure,  brave,  unselfish  heart,  and  I 
will  make  a  pilgrimage  to  worship  before  it.  Yes,  sir, 
when  I  bow  before  that  shrine,  I  shall  feel  that  my  eye  is 
directed  toward  God  himself,  reaching  beyond  the  mere 
mortal  manifestation  of  the  Godhead,  with  which  he  some- 
times blesses  the  earth.  Such  a  one  was  vouchsafed  to  us 
in  Washington,  and  to  him,  to  that  safe  and  healthy  con- 
dition of  the  human  mind  in  which  it  yields  itself  up  to 
the  influence  of  true  greatness,  we  owe  all  our  institutions, 
all  that  has  made  us  great  and  happy.  He  took  no  part 
indeed  in  the  discussions  of  the  Convention  over  which  he 
presided.  But  he  was  there,  standing  between  every  man 
and  the  highest  object  of  ambition,  himself  inaccessible  to 
selfish  motives,  and  inapproachable  by  all  who  were  not. 
The  highest  post  of  honour  and  of  power  was  confessedly 
tor  him.  The  rest  were  to  be  in  his  gift,  and  in  his  pre- 
sence ambition  had  to  restrain  its  aspirations,  and  self-love 
to  fear  its  schemes,  and  all  had  to  work  together  as  if  one 
common  aim,  and  that  the  public  good,  had  been  the  aim 
of  all 

But  every  good  has  its  concomitant  evil,  and  the  bless- 
ings of  God  himself  are  curses  to  those  who  abuse  them. 
Man  ceased  to  look  from  the  creature  up  to  the  Creator, 
whose  vicegerent  he  Avas.  Man  worship  became  the  estab- 
lished religion  of  the  country  ;  not  the  sentiment  which 
always  bows  the  knee  of  man  in  the  presence  of  one  who 
bears  tlie  impress  of  the  Divinity,  but  a  superstitious  eager- 
ness to  find  on  some  no  better  than  themselves  something 
to  be  mistaken  for  that  divine  seal.  From  that  day  to  tliis, 
sir,  we  have  never  been  easy  without  some  divinity  of  flesh 
and  blood—- some  Bull  Apis,  not  distinguishable  by  com- 
mon usage  from  any  other  calf,  about  whom  the  Priests 
and  Hierophants  pretended  to  discover  the  true  marks  of 
divinity.  The  genius  of  Jefferson,  the  virtue  of  Mailisou, 
the  strong  will  of  Jackson,  served  the  tiuics  pretty  well. 
Some  few  indeed  have  been  found  to  set  up  a  claim  on  be- 
half of  every  successive  president,  but  they  made  few  con- 
verts.    The  Priests  of  the  Temple  had  some  hopes  from  the 


16 

advent  of  a  second  military  cliieftain.  But  tlioy  soon  dis- 
covered their  mistake,  and  the  poor  old  man  is  left  to  the 
cpitajjh  which  Tacitus  prophetically  wrote  for'hiin  near  two 
thousand  years  ago  :  '^Consensu  omnium  dujnus  imperh  nisi 
imperosset." 

r>ut  superstition  must  have  its  idols,  sir.  Egyptians 
must  have  their  calf.  Americans  must  have  tlieir  human 
God — and  as  the  spirit  of  party  runs  too  high  to  permit  us 
to  agree  in  any  thing,  we  have  quite  a  pantlieon  of  Gods  ; 
BO  tliat  what  we  call  politics,  has  come  to  he  a  sort  of  reli- 
gious controversy  between  their  respective  votaries. 

For  my  part,  sir,  I  confess  myself,  as  I  have  said,  a  little 
prone  to  this  sort  of  worship,  but  it  has  been  my  misfor- 
tune through  life  to  have  met  with  no  God  in  human  shape. 
Mr.  Clay  does  indeed  look  something  more  like  it  than  the 
rest.  He  has  genius,  eloquence,  a  high  and  gallant  bear- 
ing, and  a  [)revailing  intlnence  over  all  tliat  approach  him, 
but  I  look  in  vain  for  wisdom,  statesmanship  and  disin- 
terestedness. In  place  of  these,  I  find  management,  artifice 
and  legerdemain — sometimes  overreaching  others— some- 
times overreaching  himself.  Never  falling  but  to  rise,  he 
never  rises  but  to  fall — always  making  the  sacrifice  of  the 
South  the  step[)ing  stone  of  liis  elevation — always,  in  his 
reverses,  catching  at  the  South  in  his  fall,  and  i)ulling  her 
down.  The  author  of  the  Missouri  compromise,  and  of 
the  present  scheme  for  robbing  the  South  of  all  it  professed 
to  secure — the  avowed  enemy  and  open  denouncer  of  John 
Q.  Adams  as  a  traitor  and  a  liar,  and  the  worker  of  the 
wires  which  placed  him  on  the  throne — the  aullior  of  the 
tariff  com[)roaiise  of 'Si),  t)  the  faithful  performance  of 
■which  he  personally  pledged  himself  in  my  hearing,  and 
the  author  of  the  tariff  of '42,  in  open  violation  of  that 
pledge,  I  see  nothing  in  Mr.  Clay  but  a  sort  of  Jupiter 
Scapin,  before  whom  I  can  never  bring  myself  to  bend  the 
knee. 

But  IMr.  Webster  1  The  master  mind  of  the  age!  He 
whom  his  admiring  coimtrymen  have  already  distinguished 
as  "tlic  Godlike  man!     Sir,  the  most  devout  Pagan  that 


17 

ever  bowed  before  a  shrine,  would  not  recognize  the  God- 
head in  tlie  statue  of  Jupiter  Touans  himself,  if  seen  lying 
in  a  kennel,  plaistered  over  with  the  mire  of  profligacy  and 
debauchery.     There  let  him  lie. 

I  will  say  no  more  of  Gen.  Cass.     I  have  said  too  much 
of  all   these    men.      But  wlien  I  see  them,    who  agree  in 
nothing  else,  conspiring  to  cheat,  oppress  and  trample  on 
tlie   South — when,    in    their    fiercest   stril'es,    I   see    them 
"hacking  each  other's  daggers  in  the  sides"  of  the  consti- 
tution, I  am  tenipted  to  forget  my  self-respect,  and  scourge 
in  hand  descend  to  the  office  of  })nblic  executioner.      But  I 
have  a   higher   and   a  worthier   ohjeet.     There  are   few  of 
those  wliOse  minds  I  desire  to  influence,  on  whom  the  name 
of  one   or  the    other  of  these    men    is  not  a  spell    ul'  great 
power.     To  them  I  say,  "your  Gods  are  no  Gods."     Turn 
from  them  to  the  only  living  and  true  God,  the  God  of  the 
righteous  and  oppressed,  and  put  your  trust  in  him.     Do 
you  want  leaders?     Seek    for  them   in  the  true   spirit,  and 
you  will  find  them.     Seek  for  men  distinguished  by  virtue 
as  well  as   talent — men   worthy   to   minister   between  God 
and  you,  in    the   great  concerns  of  duty  as  well   as  right. 
He  will  not  leave  himself  without  a  witness,  and  even  now, 
'•there  walketh  among  you  one  whom   you  know  not,  the 
latchets  of  whose  shoes   these  men  are  not  worthy  to  un- 
loose."     Who  is  he?     I  know  him  not.     But  let  your  ac- 
tions show  you   woi'thy  of  such   a  leader — let  your  deter- 
mined resistance   to  wrong,  and  devotii)n    to  the   right,  de- 
mantl  him,  and    he  will   ap})e;ir.      When   our   fathers   first 
resolved  to  resist  the  stanij)   act,  Washington  was  a  sur- 
veyor— Patrick   Henry  an  obscure   county  court  lawyer — 
Greene  was  at  his  forge — aiul   even   now,  in  the  depths  of 
your  ibrests,  are   other  such    men,  wanting  nothing   but  a 
righteous  cause,  and   brave  men    resolute  to   support  it,  to 
secure  iude|>eiulence  and  freedom  to  you,  and  immediate 
honour  to  themselves. 

1  very  much  regret,  sir,  the  time  I  have  devoted  to  tliese 
men.  You  will  lemember  that  1  undertook  to  sliuw,  that 
should  the  South  be  driven  to  secession,  there  is  no  reason 


18 

to  apprehend  tliat  such  a  step  would  lead  to  war.  To  pre- 
pare 3'our  minds  for  what  I  have  to  sa}'  on  this  point,  it 
was  necessary  to  put  out  of  my  way  the  authority  of  tliose 
who  have  concurred  in  declaring  a  peaceful  separation  to 
he  impossihle.  It  is  only  with  this  view  that  I  have  spoken 
of  them — I  know  them  only  as  enemies  to  my  countuy,  and 
I  could  warn  mv  countrymen  a";ainst  them. 

And  now,  sir,  let  us  look  at  the  dangers  which  are  to  at- 
tend disunion.  Let  us  suppose  a  case,  and  consider  the  in- 
fluences which  will  he  brought  to  bear  on  those  on  whom 
the  peace  of  this  continent  will  depend.  Let  us  suppose 
but  five  States — the  States  of  Florida,  Georgia,  South  Car- 
olina, Alabama  and  Mississippi — to  withdraw  from  the 
Union,  and  form  a  Southern  Confederacy.  Their  policy 
■would  be  clearly  pacific.  What  would  be  the  policy  of  the 
rest  of  the  world  ?  Would  the,  manufacturing  States  wish 
to  rush  into  a  war,  which,  while  it  lasted,  Avould  shut  them 
out  from  the  best  market  in  tlic  world  ?  Would  the  ship- 
ping and  commercial  States  wish  to  rush  into  a  war  which 
would  throw  the  carriage  of  our  rich  and  bulky  produc- 
tions into  the  hands  of  Europe,  until  our  own  commercial 
marine  should  have  become  adequate  to  our  wants?  I 
say  notliing  of  the  fatal  consequences  which  would  attend 
the  loss  of  a  supply  of  cotton  to  the  spindles  and  looms  of 
New  England,  because,  although  war  should  prevail,  the 
laws  of  trade  will  be  sure  to  carry  the  needed  supply  to  the 
place  of  demand.  This  indeed  must  be  of  a  circuitous 
route,  and  at  enormous  expense ;  but  on  this  I  lay  no  stress, 
though  it  would  prevent  the  Yankee  from  hoj^ing  to  com- 
pete with  the  English  manufacturer  in  markets  open  to 
both,  while  war  would  shut  him  out  from  this  the  cliiel  and 
best  market. 

"And  how  long  would  such  a  war  last?"  asks  Mr. 
Webster,  with  a  scornful  scowl,  ^'llow  long  Avould  it 
be  before  the  fleets  and  armies  of  the  North  would 
sweep  the  coasts,  and  blockade  the  ports,  and  overrun 
and  desolate  the  territory  of  the  South,  and  turn  the 
knives   of   the    slaves   against   their    masters'    throats?" 


19 

How  long  ?  Sir,  snch  destructive  war  will  never  be 
waged  until  MaRsachnsetts  shall  have  lost  her  senses,  and 
be  picpired  to  rush  on  self  destruction.  Whence,  but 
from  the  Southern  States,  comes  the  cotton  tliat  keeps  iu 
activity  the  spindles  and  looms  of  the  North?  Sir,  the 
North  would  not  dare  to  prosecute  war  with  such  activity, 
as  even  to  diminish  the  sui)ply.  Obtaining  it,  as  she  must 
do,  from  neutral  ports,  the  North  could  only  get  what 
was  left  after  supplying  the  demand  of  other  countries, 
and  any  essential  diminution  would  leave  her  notliing. 
But  a  war  of  desolation  !  Why,  sir,  such  a  war  would 
re-act  upon  the  North  like  the  bursting  of  a  cannon  in  a 
crowded  ship,  working  ten  times  more  mischief  there  than 
on  the  enemy.  Do  gentlemen  consider  the  natare  of  great 
manufacturing  establishments,  kept  in  operation  by  what 
they  call  free  labour  ?  the  labour  of  those  whose  daily 
bread  is  the  purchase  of  daily  toil,  and  who,  left  without 
emplo}  ment  for  a  week,  must  starve,  or  beg,  or  rob.  The 
mind  of  man  has  not  conceived  the  wretchednes  which 
the  failure  of  one  cotton  crop  would  produce.  Universal 
bankruptcy;  universal  ruin;  the  prostration  of  the  wealthy, 
and  the  uprising  of  the  suffering  mass,  violently  snatching 
from  their  beggared  employers  a  portion  of  the  scanty  rem- 
nant of  former  abundance,  to  satisfy  the  wants  of  nature. 
Sir,  when  the  overwhelming  force  of  France  threatened  to 
invade  and  subjugate  Holland,  the  Dutch  cut  their  dykes 
and  let  in  the  ocean — the  enemy  withdrew,  and  all  thought 
of  again  invading  the  soil  of  a  people  capahlo  of  defending 
their  liberty  by  such  sacrifices,  was  abandoned  forever. 
Here  was  a  self-inflicted  suffering  which  did  but  warn  the 
enemy,  without  wounding,  him.  But  what  if  the  people  of 
the  Southern  States,  gOaded  by  insult  and  wrong,  should 
determine  on  a  much  less  sacrifice.  What  if,  with  one  ac- 
cord, they  should  agree  to  make  no  cotton  for  a  single  sea- 
son, except  for  their  own  factories^  and  apply  all  their  la- 
bour to  laying  up  a  store  of  grain  for  another  year?  The 
South  could  bear  it,  sir.  It  would  incommode  many.  It 
would  enrich   some.     It  would  ruin   nobody  here.     And 


20 

what  would  be  the  efiect  elsewhere  ?  The  mind  of  inaa 
cannot  culciilate  it.  The  imagination  of  man  cannot  con- 
ceive it.  Horresco  rcftrens.  An  eartliquake  shaking  the 
continent  from  the  rotomac  to  the  Lakes,  swaHowiiig  up 
the  llrilish  isles,  and  overturning  all  that  revolution  has 
left  standing  in  Fiance  and  (jlerniany,  would  be  haidly 
more  destructive.  Sir,  the  pillars  of  the  world  wouKi  be 
-shaken;  and  here  stands  the  South  grasping  them  in  her 
strong  arms.  Here  she  stands,  like  old  blind  Sampson,  set 
to  make  sport  lor  these  Philistines,  who  mock  her  degrada- 
tion. Will  .she  not  make  her  prayer  to  God,  and  bow  lier- 
selfin  her  might,  not  like  him,  to  die  with  the  Philistines, 
but  to  overwiielm  and  stand  unhurt  among  the  ruins  ?  No, 
she  will  not.  But  this  is  always  in  her  jjower— and  this 
she  will  do.  if  ever  her  loathing  detestation  and  scorn  of 
her  u])jjres.sors  equals  in  acrimony  and  malignity  their 
fierce  philanthropy  and  insidious  friendship. 

Something  like  this  would  be  the  consequence  to  the 
North  of  any  war  with  the  South,  Worse  if  possible  than 
this  would  be  the  consequence  of  a  war  of  desolation  and 
emancipation.  In  that  case  the  mischief  would  not  be  con- 
fined to  the  North,  It  would  overspread  the  civilized 
world,  in  aggravated  horror.  In  New  England  we  can  cal- 
culate it.  The  seven  hundred  millions  of  which  the  South 
has  been  robbed  b}'  the  unequal  operation  of  the  Federal 
Goveiiiment,  has  been  realized,  as  they  call  it.  It  has  been 
built  into  ships  and  factories;  it  has  been  paid  out  for  bar- 
ren hinds  at  high  prices,  only  justified  by  these  establish- 
ments ;  it  has  been  built  into  palaces  where  merchant 
princes  and  manulatcturers  dwell  in  marble  halls.  There 
are  no  other  objects  of  investment,  and  the  boasted  heaped 
np  wealth  of  New  En^Uuid  is  just  that — no  niore.  Now 
take  away  the  cotton  and  commerce  of  the  South,  atid  what 
do  you  see?  The  ships  lie  rotting  at  the  wharves;  the  lac- 
tories  tumbled  into  rtiins  ;  and  skulking  in  corners  of  their 
marble  palaces,  the  meichant  princes,  like  those  of  Venice, 
live  meagrely  on  contributions  levied  on  the  curiosity  of 
traA'ellers.     As  to  the  labourinii;  classes,  the  far  West  is 


21 

open  to  them.  What  violence  and  rapine  they  may  prac- 
tice for  a  while,  under  the  teachings  of  Communism,  Fou- 
rierisni,  Agrarianism,  and  other  isms  of  the  family  of  Abo- 
litionism, it  is  not  possible  to  say.  But  they  will  soon  see 
that  Communism  is  of  little  worth  where  there  is  nothing 
to  divide,  and  that  what  they  call  the  rights  of  labour  can- 
not be  enforced  against  those  who  have  nothing  to  pay. — 
They  "will  be  off  to  the  West,  sir,  there  to  found  a  new- 
Ohio  on  the  banks  of  Wisconsin  and  Minesota.  And  Bos- 
ton ?  Look  at  Venice,  sir.  The  history  of  Boston  is  so 
far  the  history  of  Venice.  Venice  enriched  herself  by  the 
oppression  and  plunder  of  her  subject  provinces.  Boston 
has  done  the  same.  Venice  concentrated  her  ill-gottoa 
wealth  on  the  marshes  of  the  Adriatic.  Boston  has  heap- 
ed up  hers  upon  a  barren  rock.  The  poisoned  chalice  has 
been  commended  to  the  lips  of  Venice,  and  she  has  in  turn 
become  the  victim  of  misgovern ment,  while  the  trade  of 
the  world  has  found  other  channels — and  behold  she  is  a 
wilderness  of  marble  in  a  waste  of  waters.  Even  such, 
would  be  the  mischiefs  which  Boston  would  pull  down 
upon  herself,  by  the  suicidal  step  of  warring  against  the 
South. 

But  look  across  the  Atlantic,  and  suppose  the  madness 
and  malignity  of  the  North  to  hurry  them  into  a  dcssola- 
ting  war  against  the  cotton  growing  States.  Other  coun- 
tries have  more  various  resources  than  New  England,  and 
might  have  something  to  fall  back  on.  England,  for  ex- 
ample, insular  as  she  is,  has  land.  But  England  has  a  su- 
perabundant population,  and  there  are  not  less  than  three 
millions  of  labourers  whose  very  existence  depends  on  cot- 
ton. They  have  no  western  country  to  fly  to,  and  while  the 
land  of  England  is  sufficient  to  feed  them  all,  they  will  not 
starve,  whether  there  be  work  for  them  to  do  or  no.  There 
is  something  there  for  Communism  to  divide — sometliing 
for  Fourierisra  to  experiment  on.  Let  but  the  loom  stand 
atill  for  one  month,  and  there  will  not  be  one  stone  left 
standing  on  another  of  the  whole  political  and  social  fabric 

of  England. 

3 


22 

The  statesmen  of  England  know  this,  sir,  and  this  it  is 
that  governs  the  foreign  policy  of  England,  and  determines 
her  to  oppose  her  veto  to  any  war  that  miglit  disturh  her 
commerce,  and,  through  that,  her  niannfactures,  on  which 
her  very  existence  depends.  Tiie  play  of  the  shuttle  is  the 
pulse  of  life  to  her.  Let  it  once  stop  and  it  beats  no  more. 
Nor  is  this  confined  to  her.  The  same  cause  operates  on 
every  powerful  nation  of  Western  Europe,  and  hence  that 
long,  unnatural  peace,  which,  for  more  tlian  thirty  years, 
has  covered  Europe  as  with  a  death  pall,  produced  and  pre- 
pared more  suffering  and  more  causes  of  mischief  than 
half  a  century  of  war  had  ever  done.  But  the  evil  is  upon 
them,  and  they  dare  not  shake  it  off.  However  the  angry 
spirit  of  rival  nations  may  chafe  at  the  restraint ;  however 
the  plethora  of  redundant  population  may  call  for  tlie  let- 
ting of  blood;  the  immense  fixed  capital  invested  in  manu- 
facturing establishments,  and  the  multitudinous  })opulation 
whose  bread  depends  upon  them,  compel  the  world  to 
peace.  It  is  indeed  but  a  piece  of  suppressed  hostility,  of 
stifled  envy,  of  insiduous  rivalry,  and  its  consequences 
make  us  feel  the  full  force  of  the  woe  denounced  against 
those  who  cry  "  peace,  peace  !  when  there  is  no  peace." 
But  there  is  no  escape  from  it.  In  the  cant  of  the  day,  "the 
spirit  of  the  age  demands  it— rthe  spirit  of  the  age  is  essen- 
tially pacific." 

What  then,  sir,  would  all  Europe  say  to  any  attempt  on 
the  part  of  the  Northern  States,  or  of  any  power  upon 
earth,  to  lift  a  hand  against  the  cotton  growing  region,  and 
interrupt  the  production  of  that  article.  The  power  of 
wealth  would  oppode  it — the  cry  of  famine  would  forbid  it 
— the  universal  nakedness  of  mankind  would  forbid  it ;  the 
united  voice  of  all  the  civilized  world  would  command  the 
peace.  The  Southern  States  of  this  Union  are  confessedly 
the  only  cotton  growing  country  in  the  world,  and  slave  la- 
hour  the  only  means  by  which  it  can  be  produced.  What- 
ever may  be  their  spite  against  us,  and  however  they  may 
cant  about  slavery,  they  will  be  careful  to  do  nothing  to 
interfere  with  the  production  of  cotton.     Had  Orpheus  been 


23  ' 

the  only  man  in  the  world,  sir,  the  Nymphs,  however  en- 
raged, would  not  have  killed  him. 

All  this  time  I  have  spoken  as  if  our  dear  sister-  Massa- 
chusetts, and  the  rest  of  that  sisterhood,  were  to  have  the 
matter  their  own  way.  I  have  taken  no  notice  of  the  fact, 
that  although  North  Carolina  and  Virginia,  Tennessee  and 
Kentucky,  might  not  he  at  once  prepared  to  join  the  South- 
ern Confederacy,  they  would  feel  that  their  interests  were 
identified  with  it,  and  refuse  to  join  in  a  crusade  against 
the  defenders  of  their  rights.  They  would  have  a  voice  in 
the  question  of  peace  or  war.  They  might  indeed  be  out- 
voted, but  would  a  vote  restrain  them,  and  would  the 
North  press  a  measure  which  would  be  sure  to  force  them 
into  the  Southern  Confederacy  ?  The  exemplary  patience 
of  Virginia  is  a  proof  that  she  fondly  recollects  that  to  her, 
more  than  to  any  other  State,  this  Union  owes  its  existence. 
She  will  be  the  last  to  dissolve  it  violently,  because  she  will 
be  thj  last  to  forget  the  proud  and  endearing  recollections 
of  the  past,  and  to  lift  her  hand  against  those  she  has  so 
long  cherished  as  brothers.  But  let  her  be  told  she  must 
fight  somebody,  and  she  will  not  be  long  in  deciding  whom 
she  will  fight.  Tell  her  to  regar  1  and  treat  as  enemies  the 
Southern  States,  peopled  mainly  by  herself— to  imbrue  her 
hands  in  the  blood  of  her  own  children,  and  her  answer  is 
ready,  in  the  words  of  Harry  Percy  : 

"  Not  speak  of  Mortimer  ! 
Forliid  my  tongue  to  speak  of  Mortimer  ! 
Yes,  ]  will  speak  of  him  :  and  may  my  soul 
■\Vant  mercy  if  I  do  not  join  with  him  !" 

Sir,  Virginia  did  not  approve  the  attitude  assumed  by 
South  Carolina  in  1833.  What  then?  Was  she  prepared 
to  lift  a  hand  against  her  ?  On  the  contrary,  she  remem- 
bers now  with  pride  that  her  Governor  then  declared,  that 
before  one  foot  should  cross  the  Potomac  on  a  hostile  er- 
rand against  South  Carolina,  he  would  lay  his  bones  on  its 
shores.  That  was  old  John  Floyd,  sir,  a  man  "whenever 
promised,  but  he  meant  to  pay  ;"  and,  thank  God,  there 
stands  another  John  Floyd  in  his  father's  place,  to  repeat 
and  make  good  his  father's  words. 


•  24 

Tut  suppose  the  few  remaining  Southern  States  not  to  be 
driven  to  the  necessity  of  choosinijj  their  enemy.  Suppose, 
as  ^vould  be  the  case,  that  no  warlike  attempt  should  be 
made — how  long  would  those  States  be  content  to  remaiQ 
under  the  grinding  misgovernmcnt  winch  taxes  them  for  the 
benefit  of  their  masters  in  the  North,  while  witnessing  the 
prosperity  of  their  Southern  brethren  living  under  a  revenue 
tariff  and  enjoying  the  blessings  of  free  trade  ?  With  a  mod- 
est, economical  government,  such  as  a  mere  central  agency  for 
independent  States  ought  to  he,  a  moderate  revenue  would 
suffice,  and  nothing  would  prevent  the  acceptance  of  the 
ovcituresfor  free  trade,  now  made  by  all  commercial  na- 
tions. These  are  not  accepted  now,  sir,  because  mainly 
beneficial  to  the  South.  And  who  cares  for  the  South  ? — 
What  is  the  South  ?  An  ass  of  tlie  tribe  of  Issachar,  "bow- 
ed down  between  two  burthens  ;"  thirty  millions  to  be  paid 
into  the  treasury,  and  twice  as  much  more  to  go  into  the 
pockets  of  the  Northern  manufacturers.  What  if  Lord 
Palmerston  should  offer  now,  in  return  for  a  reduction  of 
our  Tariff  to  a  revenue  standard,  to  take  off  the  English 
duty  of  seventy-five  cents  on  our  tobacco.  Would  it  be^  ac- 
cepted? No  sir,  no.  It  would  but  (  nrich  the  Tobacco 
States,  aud  what  do  our  masters  care  for  them?  On  the 
other  hand,  let  a  Southern  Confederacy,  in  adopting  the  free 
trade  overture,  ask  a  differential  abatement  of  ten  cents  of 
this  duty  in  their  favour,  and  how  long  would  Virginia  and 
North  Carolina,  Tennessee,  Kentucky,  and  even  Maryland 
and  Missouri,  delay  to  avail  themselves  of  the  arrange- 
ment? Depend  upon  it,  sir,  such  a  Confederacy  as  I  have 
supposed  would  hardly  be  formed  before  every  slaveholding 
State  in  tlie  Union  would  seek  admission  into  it.  The 
prestige  of  Union  once  dispelled  by  a  partial  secession,  the 
Middle  States  would  be  at  no  loss  to  choose  between  union 
with  their  Southern  brethren,  or  with  tlieir  Northern  ene- 
mies, persecutors  and  slanderers. 

But  the  thing  would  not  stop  here,  sir.  Pennsylvania 
at  this  moment,  with,  all  tlie  advantage  of  a  protective  tar- 
iff, finds  her  manufticturers  often  on  the  verge  of  bankrupt- 


25 

cy.  A  tariff  may  protect  her  against  the  competition  of 
European  manufactures,  but  not  against  the  superior  skill 
and  capital  of  New  England.  Against  this  she  contends 
as  well  as  she  can  in  the  markets  of  tlie  South,  Take  that 
away  and  she  will  sink  at  once.  Even  now  Massachusetts 
grudges  her  the  benefit  of  the  protection  which  only  ena- 
bles her  to  hold  up  her  licad.  But  let  tlie  southern  victims 
of  that  oppressive  system  emancipate  themselves  from  it, 
and  my  life  upon  it,  five  years  will  not  pass  over  before  it  is 
abolished.  What  then  will  be  the  condition  of  Pennsylva- 
nia, placed  on  the  border,  between  a  Northern  Confederacy, 
in  which  she  is  overshadowed  by  superior  capital  and  skill, 
and  a  Southern  Confederacy  of  which  she  might  become 
the  workshop?  A  revenue  tariff  of  ten  percent,  would  be 
worth  more  to  Pennsylvania  as  a  member  of  a  Southern 
Confederacy,  than  forty  per  cent,  is  now — mors  than  all 
that  protection  could  do  for  her,  were  the  South  withdrawn 
from  the  Union. 

Let  us  look  a  little  to  the  West,  sir.  I  begin  with  Illi- 
nois, because  she  reaches  farthest  South,  because  she  is 
nearest  to  New  Orleans  and  furthest  from  New  York  ;  and 
because  slie  begins  to  be  aware  that  slaves  are  wanted  in 
the  Southern  part  of  the  State,  and  seems  not  quite  in- 
sensible to  the  propriety  of  letting  such  of  her  people  have 
them  as  have  need  of  them.  Now  what  will  be  her  situa- 
tion ?  No  man  admires  more  than  I  that  noble  system  of 
inland  navigation  that  connects  the  waters  of  the  Mississippi 
with  the  lakes.  But  tolls  and  tow-paths  are  expensive 
things,  and  canals  are  sometimes  broken  by  floods,  some- 
times laid  dry  by  drouglit,  and  winter  rarely  fails  with  his 
icy  breath  to  close  up  the  navigation  of  the  lakes.  But 
the  Mississippi,  broad,  deep,  and  full,  is  ever  open  to  bear 
on  its  flowing  bosom  all  the  bulky  and  weighty  products  of 
Illinois,  at  the  lowest  possible  rate  of  expense.  I  am  aware, 
sir,  that  the  law  of  nations  would  secure  to  States,  on  the 
waters  of  that  river,  a  free  passage  to  the  ocean.  But  that 
law  would  not  exempt  them  from  imports  and  from  export 
duties,  and  from  all  the  inconveniences  which  must  be  in- 


26 

curred  by  tliose  Avho  necessarily  pass  tlirougli  a  foreign 
country  to  set  to  tlieir  own.  A  great  river,  sucli  as  the 
Mississippi;  like  an  iron  cramp,  liokls  together  all  the 
country  penetrated  by  its  tributaries,  and  no  amount  of 
human  perverseness  can  long  prevent  them  from  blending 
into  one  "like  kindred  drops." 

What  I  have  said  of  Illinois,  applies  Avith  nearly  equal 
force  to  Indiana.  It  may,  in  time,  n,\)u\y  also  to  Ohio.  At 
present,  sir,  I  see  nothing  in  tliat  region  wliich  "we  desig- 
nate as  Ohio,  of  which  any  sort  of  moral  or  ])olitical 
character  can  be  predicated,  I  see  a  vast  multitude  of  all 
kindred,  tongues  and  nations,  swept  down  and  agglomerated 
like  the  wash  of  a  hill  side,  or  that  from  the  mouth  of  a 
common  sewer  ;  heaped,  as  against  a  dam,  on  the  north 
bank  of  the  river.  On  such  an  alluvial  deposit  you  may 
raise  cucumbers  or  onions,  but  tlie  majestic  forev^;.t  oak  can 
find  no  root  there — the  stately  edifice  no  stable  foundation. 
Among  such  a  rabble  you  may  have  temporary  regulations 
of  arbitration  and  police — but  a  government,  strong  to  pro 
tect,  strong  to  restrain,  consecrated  by  the  afit'ction  and 
reverence  of  the  people,  a  '"fortress  at  once  and  a  temple" — 
the  thing  is  impossible.  The  rock  built  Acropolis  of  Ten- 
nessee stands  on  yonder  hill,  and  there  it  will  stand.  It  is 
built  of  rocii,  for  it  stands  on  a  rock  ;  and  there  they  will 
stand  together  till  the  foundations  of  the  earth  are  shaken. 
But  as  well  might  you  build  such  a  structure  on  the  marshes 
of  the  lower  Mississippi,  as  to  establish  anything  deserving 
the  name  of  a  free,  stable  and  enduring  government,  on 
such  a  quaking  bog  as  Ohio.  The  institution  of  domestic 
slavery,  which,  like  piles  driven  into  the  earth,  gives  sta- 
bility to  government,  and  renders  universal  suffrage  and 
perfect  freedom  possible  to  those  who  are  free,  is  a  resource 
denied  to  tliem.  God  forbid  that  I  should  desire  to  intro- 
duce slavery  there.  No,  sir.  I  wouUl  not  so  wrong  the 
negro.  lie  is  ])roud  and  happy  in  his  subordination  to  one 
worthy  to  be  his  master.  But  servitude  under  such  as 
these,  differing  in  colour,  and  inferior  in  all  besides,  it 
would  break  his  heart.    If  such  servitude  as  this   is  iheir 


27 

only  idea  of  slavery,  I  protest  before  God  that  their  abhor- 
rence of  it  must  fall  far  sliort  of  mine.  But  tliey  them- 
selves are  sensible  of  the  negro's  superiority,  and  they  are 
jealous  of  it.  They  steal  our  slaves  from  us,  and  when  they 
have  made  them  what  they  call  free,  they  harass  them,  they 
persecute  them,  they  combine  to  shut  them  out  from  all 
creditable  or  profitable  employment— they  starve  them  out, 
and  even  drive  them  away  ?  Is  this  disgust  ?  No,  sir.  It 
is  jealousy.  The  shoemaker  will  not  sit  on  the  same  boncli 
with  the  negro.  But  let  the  negro  prosper  in  spite  of  per- 
secution, and  he  will  give  him  his  daugliter  in  marriage, 
and  she  too  will  thankfully  take  him  to  her  obscene  and 
Instlul  bosom.  And  this  is  Ohio;  and  the  philanthropic 
abolitionist,  as  he  floats  down  the  river,  turns  his  eye  sadly 
from  Kentucky,  the  home  of  a  bold,  high-minded,  law- 
abiding  yeomanry,  the  home  of  accomplished  gentlemen 
and  enlightened  statesmen,  to  gaze  on  the  prosperity  of 
Ohio.  What  does  he  see  there,  sir?  A  fertile  soil,  in- 
dustry, manufactures,  commerce,  wealth,  and  even  some 
science.  All  the  elements  of  civilization  are  there — but  of 
civilization  itself,  of  the  refinements  and  courtesies  of  life, 
nothing.  No,  sir,  without  social  organization  there  can  be 
no  civilization.  It  is  the  relation  between  trne  and  ac- 
knowledged superiority,  and  confessed  inferiority,  that  ele- 
vates and  ennobles  both  where  both  are  capable  of  elevation. 
Association  will  always  assimilate.  The  Southern  gentle- 
man, studiously  observing  all  possible  courtesy  in  his  de_ 
portment  to  the  negro,  makes  a  gentleman  of  him,  while 
he  himself  becomes  toore  a  gentleman  by  his  condescension. 
The  man  of  Ohio  has  nobody  below  him  but  his  hog.  He 
cannot  make  the  hog  a  gentleman,  sir,  and  I  need  not  say 
how  the  dead  weight  of  the  hog  must  operate  to  drag  down 
his  companion  to  his  level. 

But  there  is  the  Queen  City,  as  they  call  it,  "showing 
like  a  jewel  on  an  G^tliiop's  ear."  I  went  ashore  there, 
the  other  day,  sir,  and,  verily,  I  sliould  have  thought, 
that,  like  tlie  Queen  of  the  House  of  Brunswick,  she  had 
been  imported  from  Germany  ;  for  the  young  piinces  in  her 


28 

streets  talked  hardly  any  language  but  the  German.  And 
these  are  the  men  whose  suffrages  arc  to  give  law  to  us, 
whose  fathers  rescued  the  country  from  the  domination  of 
a  German  prince  upon  the  English  throne. 

I  speak  harshly,  sir.  I  know  it.  I  meant  to  do  so.  I 
speak  as  it  becomes  every  man  to  speak  of  the  enemies  of 
his  country  ;  for  I  speak  of  those  who  have  long  waged  a 
systematic,  predatory  and  cowardly  war  against  Virginia, 
my  country.  But  enough  of  Ohio.  There  let  her  be — a 
foul  cess-pool — at  one  time  greexi  and  stagnant,  at  another 
stirred  up  from  the  bottom  by  the  strifes  of  the  reptiles  that 
struggle  in  its  mud,  and  tainting  the  moral  atmosphere 
with  its  stench. 

The  inhabitants  of  Ohio  may  one  day  acquire  that  con- 
sistency which  is  necessary  to  constitute  a  people,  and  then 
they  may  form  themselves  a  government,  or  in  the  mean 
time  they  may  find  a  master.  It  will  be  time  enough  then 
to  consider  of  our  relation  to  them.  Until  then,  I  will 
rest  in  the  hope,  that  should  such  events  take  place  as  I 
have  spoken  of,  they  will  sec  the  necessity  of  paying  that 
respect  to  the  Laws  of  Nations,  which  they  deny  to  the 
Constitution. 

Mr.  President,  I  hope  I  have  said  enough  to  satisfy  think- 
ing men,  that  those  frightful  consequences  of  disunion^  at 
tlie  thought  of  which  the  heart  trembles  and  the  cheeks 
turn  pale,  will  not  ibllow  disunion,  should  the  North  be 
mad  enough  to  drive  us  to  that  extremity.  If  I  have  suc- 
ceeded in  this  I  have  accomplished  all  I  wished.  I  have 
not  spoken  with  a  view  to  make  men  desire  disunion.  I 
have  aimed  at  no  more  than  to  keep  them  from  being 
frightened  out  of  their  senses  at  the  bare  thought  of  it.  I 
wish  only  to  bring  them  to  hear  reason,  and  having  done 
this,  I  expect  them  to  see  at  a  glance  that  the  true  way  to 
preserve  the  Union  is  to  let  the  people  of  the  North  see 
that  we  all  understand  our  true  position,  and  all  see  the 
matter  in  this  light.  Let  them  see  that  even  those  among 
us  (if  there  be  any  such)  who  would  surrender  every  right 
sooner  than  expose  themselves  to  the  horrors  of  war,  are 


29 

sensible  that  there  is  no  danger  of  war,  and  no  reason  why 
they  should  submit  to  insult,  outrage  and  wrong,  lest  a 
worse  thing  befall  them.  Let  the  North  understand,  sir, 
that  such  are  the  views  and  temper  of  tlie  South,  and  the 
spirit  of  encroachment  will  stand  rebuked,  and  tlie  states- 
men of  the  North  will  at  once,  and  with  anxious  earnest- 
ness, acknowledge  our  rights,  and  in  good  faith  address 
themselves  to  those  who  Bpoak  for  us,  not  to  cajole  and 
bribe  them  to  betray  us,  but  to  ascertain  what  will  actually 
and  i)ermanently  satisfy  us.  By  such  means  the  Union 
may  be  preserved,  and  if  such  a  course  is  adopted,  the 
Union  is  safe.  This  course  of  proceeding  must  begin  with 
us.  It  must  begin  here,  and  now.  That  is  our  business 
here,  sir.  To  save  the  Union,  and  to  save  it  by  showing 
the  people  of  the  North  that  by  persevering  in  their  wan- 
tun,  unjust  and  mad  career  they  will  destroy  it.  If  it  per- 
ishes, the  act  will  be  theirs — not  ours. 

Mr.  President,  I  have  worn  out  the  patience  of  the  Con- 
vention, exhausted  my  strength  and  wasted  my  feeble 
voice  without  saying  the  tenth  part  of  what  I  had  to  say. 
I  have  come  here  with  my  mind  charged  to  bursting  with 
thoughts  that  vainly  struggle  for  utterance.  To  "un])ack 
my  heai't  with  words,"  and  give  voice  to  all  I  would  wish 
to  say,  I  would  as  soon  attempt  to  drain  Lake  Eric  through 
a  goose  quill. 

I  would  speak  of  the  magnificent  future,  and  glorious 
destiny  of  a  Southern  Confederacy.  I  would  speak  of  the 
various  and  boundless  resources  of  a  country  embracing  the 
noble  Chesapeake  and  its  waters,  extending  thence  to  the 
Gulf,  and  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Bravo,  comprehending 
an  assortment  of  all  things  needful  for  agriculture,  manu- 
factures, and  commerce.  I  would  point  to  the  region  of 
iron,  coal  and  water  power,  stretching  from  this  spot  to  the 
eastern  foot  of  the  Alleghanics,  sloping  down  in  the  east  to 
the  tide  waters  of  the  Atlantic,  in  the  west  to  the  rich 
plains  that  border  the  Mississippi,  while  James  river,  Poto- 
mac and  Ohio,  stretch  forth  their  arms  to  encircle  the  whole 
in  their  embrace,  and  bind  together  the  three  great  in- 


30 

terests  of  civilization  witli  a  cord  twisted  by  tlic  liaiuls  of 
Kature,  in  a  union  like  tiiat  of  the  sexes;  a  union  of  con- 
genial not  conflicting;  interests.  No  ]\Iezentian  marriage  of 
the  living  with  the  dead — no  compact  between  power  and 
wealcness,  simplicity  and  craft,  generosity  and  selfishness  ! 
No  compromise  !  in  which,  as  in  bargains  with  the  devil, 
one  party  signs  his  name  in  his  own  blood,  which  all  the 
waters  of  Lethe  will  not  wash  out,  while  the  otlier  uses  a 
chemical  compound  of  the  newest  Yankee  invention,  which 
disappears  as  soon  as  it  is  dry. 

I  would  speak  of  the  destiny  and  destination  of  the  negro 
race — I  would  recite  the  divine  decree  which  mitigated  the 
curse  of  Canaan,  by  ordaining  that  in  the  tents  of  Shem  he 
should  dwell  with  Japhet  as  his  servant,  and  in  that  scliool 
of  civilization  and  Christianity  purge  away  his  first  offence, ' 
and  qualify  himself  to  be  restored  to  his  Maker's  favour* 
These  words,  so  long  witliout  any  intelligible  meaning, 
have  found  their  interpretation  and  fulfilment  here.  They 
indicate  the  task  to  be  performed,  and  designate  us  to  per- 
form it.  Woe  to  us,  if,  seeking  rather  the  praise  of  man 
than  the  honour  that  cometli  from  God,  we  shrink  from  it. 
Let  us  rather  be  thankful  that  he  lias  made  choice  of  us, 
unworthy  as  we  are,  to  be  his  instruments  in  this  great 
work.  What  have  all  the  missionaries  on  earth,  since  the 
daj'S  of  the  Apostles,  done  for  the  spread  of  the  Gospel 
among  the  Heathen,  compared  to  what  has  been  effected  on 
belialf  of  tlic  negro  race  in  this  great  school  of  domestic 
slavery  ?  The  success  of  tlie  teaclier  has  not  been  every 
where  the  same,  because  all  were  not  equally  competent 
and  equally  faithful.  The  Frenchman  who  but  taught  his 
pupil  to  sing  and  to  dance,  and  to  practise  his  old  abomina- 
tions in  a  new  way,  was  flogged  with  his  own  birch  and 
barred  out.  The  Englishman,  in  his  serene  self-compla- 
cency, contem})lating  his  own  imaginary  superiority  over  all 
others,  set  up  at  last  for  being  wiser  than  God  himself, 
broke  up  his  school  and  dismissed  liis  pupils.  So  far  we 
have  stood  manfully  to  our  post.  We  have  not  indeed 
studied  as  we  ought  all  the  duties  of  our  position  ;  but  we 


31 

are  finding  them  out,  and  the  improvement  of  the  negro, 
physical,  moral  and  intellectual,  is  our  witness  that  we 
have  not  heen  altogether  unfaithful.  In  this  connexion, 
sir,  I  would  not  speak  of  our  interest  in  the  matter.  The 
decree  wliich  appointed  our  task,  appointed  our  vrages,  and 
unless  God  he  false,  then  let  us  assure  ourselves  that  so 
long  as  we  perform  the  one,  we  shall  receive  the  other.  I 
have  no  fears  for  the  results  while  we  are  true  to  ourselves 
and  to  Him.  The  institution  of  slavery  is  of  his  appoint-' 
ment,  and  it  \yill  endure  until  it  shall  have  accomplished 
that  to  which  it  was  appointed.  Sir,  I  went  on  Sunday  last 
to  the  Episcopal  church,  aijd  there,  in  the  psalm  for  the 
day,  I  heard  the  voice  of  God,  and  he  put  a  new  song  into 
my  mouthj  a  song  of  deliverance  and  triumph  : 

"  Thou  art,  my  king,  0  God  !     Send  help  unto  Jacob. 

"  Throuoh  thee  will  wc  overthrow  our  enemies,  and  in  thy  name  will  we 
tread  them  under  who  rise  up  against  us. 

"  For  I  will  not  trust  in  my  bow  :  it  is  not  my  sword  that  shall  help  me. 

"But  now  thou  art  afar  off,  and  pnttest  us  to  confusion. 

"Thou  makest  us  to  turn  our  backs  upon  our  enemies,  so  that  they  that  hate 
us  sjioil  our  goods. 

'•  But  although  all  this  come  upon  us,  yet  do  we  forget  thee. 

"  Up  Lord  !     Why  sleepe^t  thou?     Arise  and  help  us  for  thy  mercy's  sake. 

"  The  Lord  of  hosts  is  on  our  side :  The  God  of  Jacob  is  our  refuge." 

I  am  far  from  imagining,  sir,  that  the  benevolent  pur- 
poses of  the  Creator  in  favour  of  the  African  race,  are  lim- 
ited to  the  small  number  that  have  heen  brought  over  to 
us,  or  that  the  slave  trade  will  be  continued  until  all  Africa 
is  dispeopled.  No,  sir.  Civilization  and  Christianity  must 
be  sent  to  those  who  cannot  be  brought  to  them.  But  how  ? 
It  has  pleased  the  Almighty  to  envelope  that  Continent 
with  a  pestilential  atmosphere,  which  a  white  man  cannot 
breajthe  and  live.  The  peculiar  conformation  of  the  negro 
race  fits  him  alone  for  it,  and  it  is  by  him  that  this  work 
must  be  done.  The  Colonization  Society  is  a  feeble,  pre- 
mature and  abortive  attempt  at  this.  The  negro  has 
learned  but  half  the  lesson  necessary  to  qualify  him  for  this 
task.  But  let  a  place  be  found  nearer  home,  where  a  colony 
of  free  blacks,  may  be  established  under  a  provincial  gov- 
ernment, protected,  rcrgulated  and  controlled  by  a  Southern 
Confederacy,  open  to  all  who  will  go  to  it,  and  from  its 


32 

proximity  accessible  to  all.  How  long  would  it  be,  sir,  be- 
fore, exercising  in  a  limited  degree  the  functions  of  self- 
government,  tbey  would  learn  that  other  lesson  which  is 
necessary  to  qualify  them,  not  only  for  personal  but  politi- 
cal freedom  ?  Growing  and  fhnirishing  under  the  paternal 
care  of  tlieir  former  masters,  we  might  expect  nothing  but 
good  offices  from  them.  Such  a  colony  would  be  no  runa- 
ways' harbour,  and  a  time  would  come,  (and  it  will  come, 
sir,)  which  none  of  us  willlive  to  see,  when  established  in 
complete  independence,  they  will  be  in  condition  to  go  forth 
from  this  normal  school,  and  settle  colonies  of  their  own  on 
all  tlie  coasts  of  Africa.  But  wjiere  is  this  place  near  home  ? 
Sir,  tlie  folly  and  madness  of  France  have  prepared  it.  It 
is  Hayti.  And  Avcre  a  Southern  Confederacy  once  formed, 
■five  years  would  not  elapse  before  a  cession  would  be  ob- 
tained, there,  or  somewhere  on  tlie  southern  shores  of  the 
gulph,  of  territory  sufficient  for  such  a  colony. 

I  beg  pardon,  sir,  for  these  speculations.  This  is  a  sub- 
ject on  which  it  is  so  much  the  custom  for  those  to  talk 
most  who  think  least,  that  a  man  who  has  made  it  the 
study  of  liis  Avhole  life,  is  under  some  necessity  of  apolo- 
gizing.; for  the  expression  of  his  thoughts. 

But  all  tills  is  mere  speculation,  and  nothing  but  insane 
folly  on  the  jiart  of  northern  men,  can  make  it  more  than 
speculation.  It  rests  with  them  at  any  moment  to  quiet  all 
this  agitation  and  restore  tranquility,  at  least,  though  not 
harmony.  Abused  confidence  and  in.sulted  friendship  can 
never  be  I'estorcd.  But  equality  between  the  States  can  be 
restored,  and  the  rights  of  all  parties  being  equally  re- 
spected, and  the  interests  of  all  ])arlios  equally  cared  ibr,  a 
regard  for  these  interests,  the  recollections  of  the  past,  and 
the  iudispotsition  of  mankind  to  the  suntlering  of  old  ties, 
and  breaking  up  the  established  order  of  things^  may  even 
now  preserve  the  Union.  But  depend  ujjou  it,  that  this  is 
not  to  be  effected  by  any  of  those  cheating  compromises 
which  "keep  the  word  of  promise  to  the  ear,- and  break  it 
to  tlie  hope."  AVe  have  bad  enough  of  these  things,  and 
the  "false  juggling  fiend"  who  has  so  often  arrayed  himself 


33 

in  the  garb  of  an  an  gel  of  light  to  palm  them  on  us,  can 
deceive  us  no  more.  We  noAv  know  him  in  his  disguise, 
and  will  have  no  more  of  his  compromises.  ''Othello's  oc- 
cupation's gone."  He  may  tamper  with  our  representatives 
in  Congress,  and  with  the  letter  writing  loafers  wlio  hang 
about  the  treasury  to  negotiate  Galphin  claims  and  fraudu- 
lent contracts,  but  their  day  too  is  gone  as  well  as  his.  This 
battle  is  not  to  be  fought  at  Washington.  We  have  changed 
our  tactics,  sir.  We  are  tired  of  being  trampled  down  by 
the  elephants  and  cavalry,  who  push  themselves  into  the 
front  of  the  array,  and  at  the  first  prick  of  the  lance,  or  at 
the  first  fire,  turn  back  and  break  through  the  infantry, 
and  throw  every  thing  into  confusion,  dismay  and  rout. 
Henceforth,  sir,  we  fight  with  the  infantry  in  front,  and 
shall  not  leave  it  to  men  Avhose  valour  all  oozes  out  at  their 
fingers'  ends  between  January  and  April,  to  decide  for  us 
what  we  are  to  do.  We  are  sick  of  compromises,  and  as  to 
this  thing  they  call  a  compromise,  what  is  it?  What  was 
the  matter  in  dispute  ?  What  was  the  claim  set  up  by  the 
Yankees  ?  Nothing  more  than  to  exclude  us  from  all  the 
territory  conquered  by  southern  arms,  and  purchased  with 
southern  money,  (for  we  pay  all  the  taxes,)  from  Mexico. 
Well,  sir,  docs  this  compromise  propose  to  let  us  into  equal 
participation  with  the  North  ?  No  such  thing.  Not  a  foot 
of  all  our  conquests  is  open  to  us  ;  but  then  we  are  gravely 
told  that  if  we  will  give  some  ten  or  fifteen  millions  more 
to  bribe  Texas  to  give  up  a  portion  of  her  territory  equal  to 
three  large  States,  which,  belonging  to  her,  is  now  actually 
open  to  us,  they  will  perhaps  not  exclude  us  from  that. 
Smitten  on  one  cheek,  we  are  to  turn  the  other  !  And  this 
is  compromise  !  Is  any  thing  conceded  to  us  ?  No.  Is 
any  demand  of  the  other  party  withdrawn  ?  No.  The 
proposed  compromise  urges  new  demands,  and  they  Avho 
pretend  to  speak  for  us,  say  that  the  best  thing  we  can  do 
is  to  admit  them. 

But  it  seems,  sir,  that  Mr.  Clay  insists  that,  although  we 
cannot  understand  it,  this  is  a  compromise;  and  in  proof  of 
it,  tells  us,  that  its  advocates  in  the  committee,  that  famous 


34 

majority  of  eight,  liaJ  great  difficulty  in  agreeing  among 
themselves  ou  its  terms.  I  have  little  doubt  of  it,  sir,  for  I  can 
well  believe  that  these  gentlemen  were  as  careful  of  their 
own  individual  interests  in  the  matter,  as  they  were  indif- 
ferent to  ours.  I  have  heard  of  sucli  cases  in  other  coun- 
tries.    They  happen  every  day  in  Spain. 

A  band  of  robbers  when  they  set  on  a  traveller,  always 
compromise  with  him  somewhat  in  this  way.  He  is  told 
that  if  he  will  lie  on  his  face,  put  his  hands  behind  him, 
and  submit  to  be  rifled  and  stript,  tlioy  will  ask  no  more  of 
him.  I  don't  know  whether  they  call  this  a  compromise. 
But  if  they  did,  sir,  the  captain  of  the  gang  might  explain 
how,  as  plausibly  as  Captain  Clay  himself.  "Compromise!" 
says  he  ;  "  certainly  we  had  to  com[)romise.  Some  of  us 
wished  only  to  take  the  fellow's  money  and  leave  him  his 
clothes.  Others  were  for  putting  him  to  death  ;.  and  we 
compromised  on  the  middle  ground  of  taking  both  money 
and  clothes,  and  sparing  his  life.  And  then  when  we  were 
dividing  the  spoil — good  God  !  had  I  not  to  compromise 
and  content  myself  with  only  half  instead  of  taking  the 
whole  to  myself."  This  last  I  suspect,  sir,  was  the  great 
difticulty  with  the  committee.  ]\Ir.  Webster  and  General 
Cass  doubtless  thought  that  they  liad  as  good  a  right  as 
Mr.  Clay  to  iiame  the  bill  so  as  to  make  political  capital 
for  themselves  respectively.  Mr.  Foote  probably  would 
have  been  glad  to  have  it  a  little  more  acceptable  to  the 
people  of  Mississippi.  It  may  be  doubted  wlieiher  Mr. 
Clay  was  inclined  to  admit  these  pretensions. 

Is  not  Mr.  Clay  the  ''Great  Pacificator  ?"  Did  he  not 
give  peace  to  the  country  in  1820  and  in  1833,  and  is  he 
not  thesule  inventor  and  nuuuifacturer  of  the  famous  pa- 
tent fresli  salt  to  be  sprinkled  un  the  tails  of  Southern  gulls 
and  boobies?  Was  it  nut  enough  fur  \Vebster  and  Cass  to 
be  admitted  to  the  honour  of  co-operating  with  him? — 
And  as  to  Mr.  Foote,  it  ought  to  satisfy  his  ambition  to  be 
allowed  to  take  the  title  of  the  "Little  Pacificator."  So 
be  it,  sir,  worthily  has  he  won  it,  long  may  he  wear  it.  I 
am  afraid  indeed  it  may  cost  him  dear.    iEsop  tells  us  of  an 


35 

eagle,  that  stooping  from  liis  lofty  clifi",  pounced  on  a  lamb 
and  bore  it  away  ;  at  sight  of  which  the  ambition  of  a  crow 
was  so  aroused  that  he  tried  to  do  the  like,  and  alisriitingf 
on  the  back  of  an  old  ram,  tangled  his  feet  in  the  wool  and 
got  his  neck  twisted  by  the  shepherd.  So  we  have  all  seen 
how  the  strong  talons  and  sweeping  wing  of  Mr.  Clay,  bore 
away  old  Republican  Kentucky  into  the  high  latitudes  of 
Federalism  ;  but  it  requires  no  great  foresight  to  decide 
bow  ]^Ir.  Foote  will  fare  in  his  attempt  upon  the  tough  old 
ram  of  Mississippi.  He  may  not  care  much  about  that, 
sir,  for  it  is  probably  settled  that,  in  the  next  Presidential 
ass  race  (horse  race  no  longer,  sir,)  he  is  to  ride  behind  Mr. 
Clay  as  candidate  for  the  Vice-Presidency.  What  light 
Southern  man  is  to  ride  en  croupehehind  Mr.  Webster;  what 
Northern  man  with  Southern  principles,  or  what  Sonthern 
man  with  Northern  principles,  behind  Gen.  Cass,  I  do  not 
care  to  inquire.  One  thing  I  do  know,  sir.  Only  one  of  the 
three  can  be  President,  but  let  who  will  be  elected,  all  the 
five  understrappers  of  that  committee  will  be  provided  for. 
What  then  does  Mr.  Foote  care  for  Mississippi?  About  as 
much  as  she  w^ill  henceforth  care  for  him. 

But  General  Taylor's  plan  ?  Sir,  don't  talk  to  me  about 
General  Taylor.  "What  portion  have  we  in  David? — 
Neither  have  we  inheritance  in  the  son  of  Jesse.  To  your 
tents,  oh  Israel !  Now  see  to  thine  own  house,  David." 
General  Taylor  will  be  pretty  sure  to  see  to. that,  and  to  his 
sugar  plantation  too.  Whatever  else  he  neglects,  he  will 
spare  no  pains  to  prevent  any  thing  which  may  lead  to  the 
indei)endence  of  Cuba,  to  her  admission  into  this  Union, 
and  to  the  loss  of  two* cents  and  a  half  in  the  pound  in  the 
price  of  big  sugar,  Avhich  he  must  submit  to,  whenever  the 
sugar  of  the  West  Indies  is  admitted  free  of  duty.  To  a 
man  like  him,  considerations  of  this  sort,  are  of  more  im- 
portance than  all  the  rights  and  all  the  wrongs  of  all  the 
world  beside. 

But  all  that  I  have  said,  all  the  vast  interests  involved 
in  this  controversy,  are  to  be-  disregarded,  and  stern  reali- 
ties are  to  be  dissipated  into  thin  air,  by  the  potent  spell 


36 

of  tlic  magic  word  "  Uniun."  Sir,  there  is  no  Southern 
man,  whose  heart  has  not  felt  the  i)o\ver  of  that  spell.  In 
the  South,  attachment  to  the  Union  is  matter  of  sentiment. 
In  tlie  North  it  is  an  affair  of  calculation.  The  conjuror, 
who  uses  tlie  word  to  blind  the  mimls  and  palsy  the  limbs 
of  others,  feels  nothing  of  its  power  over  himself  Had 
Union  been  to  the  North  what  it  has  been  to  us,  the  North 
would  have  dissolved  it  fifty  years  ago.  What  has  it  been 
to  us  ?  Sir,  it  is  tlie  old  story  of  the  Giant  and  the  Dwarf: 
a  partnership  in  wliich  one  gets  all  the  profit,  the  other 
nothing  but  dry  blows.  Who  stormed  the  walls  of  Mon- 
terey ?  Who  scaled  the  heights  of  Churubusco  ?  Whose 
blood  enriches  the  field  of  Buena  Vista?  South  Carolina, 
Georgia,  Tennessee,  Mississippi,  Alabama,  Arkansas  and 
Texas,  are  here  to  answer — "Ours."  And  the  prize  won 
by  such  sacrifice;  for  whom  is  that?  For  those  who  "kiss- 
ed my  Lady  Peace  at  home,"  and  blessed  themselves  that 
they  were  not  man  slaj'ers  and  cut  throats.  Judas  sold  his 
master's  blootl^  but  could  not  keep  the  wages  of  his  crime. 
These  men  will  shed  no  blood  ;  not  they.  But  the  price  of 
blood — they  cannot  find  it  in  their  hearts  to  refuse  that. — 
When  we  complain  of  this,  they  .say,  "  are  we  not  brethren? 
Let  there  be  no  strife  among  us."  Why  do  they  not  go  on 
with  the  words  of  Abraham?  "  Go  you  to  the  right,  and 
we  will  go  the  left,  or  go  you  to  the  left,  and  we  will  go  to 
the  right?"  Why?  Because  of  the  Bible,  as  of  the  Con- 
stitution, they  read  just  as  mucli  as  suits  them,  no  more. 
Do  we  still  remonstrate  ?  They  become  stern.  "Are  we  not 
stronger  than  you  ?  Have  we  not  our  foot  upon  your  neck  ? 
Attempt  to  withdraw  it,  and  we  will  trample  you  into  the 
earth."  In  three  victorious  fights  the  Giant  gained  for 
himself  a  castellated  palace,  broad  fertile  lands,  and  a  beau- 
tiful wife;  the  Dwarf  lost  an  eye,  an  arm,  and  a  leg. — 
'*  Come  my  little  hero/'  said  the  Giant  let  us  repose  on  our 
laurels  ;  you  can  sit  and  turn  the  spit  at  my  kitchen  fire, 
you  will  find  a  warm  bed  in  the  ashes,  and  you  shall  have 
a  sop  out  of  the  dripping  pan."  "  That  is  hardly  a  fair 
division,"  says  the  Dwarf.     "It  is  the  best  you  can  get," 


37 

says  the  Giant  coolly.  "You'd  better  take  it."  "No," 
says  the  Dwarf,  "  I  would  rather  drag  my  mangled  carcase 
elsewhere,  and  sooner  depend  upon  the  charity  of  stran- 
gers than  on  your  justice."  "Turn  the  spit,  you  maimed 
urchin,"  is  the  reply  ;  if  you  give  yourself  any  airs  I  will 
throw  you  behind  the  fire."  The  story  is  not  exactly  in 
pjoint,  sir.  In  our  case  it  is  the  Giant  that  has  been  maim- 
ed and  crippled,  and  the  Dwarf,  taking  advantage  of  his 
helpless  condition,  has  cheated  him  of  the  purchase  of  his 
prowess  and  his  blood. 

No  people  ever  existed  more  ready  to  sacrifice  to  friend- 
ship or  generosity  than  Virginia.  It  is  the  character  of  in- 
dividuals and  of  the  State.  She  will  divide  her  bread  with 
the  hungry ;  she  will  give  her  garment  to  comfort  the 
naked.  She  will  strip  herself  to  the  shirt  ;  but  when  you 
claim  that  too,  the  instinct  of  self-respectful  modesty  is 
called  up  and  supplies  the  place  of  a  more  sordid  feeling. 
She  says  no,  to  that,  sir.  It  has  been  said  of  her  "^  that 
there  is  no  more  than  the  thickness  of  a  bit  of  linen,  be- 
tween her  and  a  downright  fool."  This  may  be  true,  sir  : 
but  woe  to  him,  who  with  profane  hand,  ventures  to  touch 
that  last  safeguard  of  her  stainless  honour. 

But  who  are  we,  a  mere  handful  of  deputies,  who  pre- 
sume to  speak  for  Virginia  ;  Sir,  we  do  not  speak  for  her. 
She  has  sent  us  here  to  confer  with  you,  and  to  speak  to  her 
and  to  the  world:  We  speak  not  for  her  ;  but  we  speak  of 
her,  as  she  is,  with  fiilal  reverence  and  admiring  love.  We 
are  indeed  but  few,  what  of  that? 

"  If  we  are  marked  to  die,  we  are  enough 
To  do  our  country  loss,  but  if  I  do  live, 
The  fewer  men  the  greater  share  of  honour." 

As  for  me,  sir,  I  speak  only  for  myself,  and  shrink  from 
no  responsibility.  Were  it  tenfold  more,  it  would  be  only 
the  more  welcome.     I  wish  none  to  divide  it  with  me. 

"  I  would  not  lose  so  great  an  honour 

As  one  man  more  methinks  would  share  from  me. 

For  the  best  hope  I  have." 

4 


38 

I  have  uo  fear,  sir,  that  Virginia  will  disclaim  me.  I 
know  the  dull  ass  will  back  upon  the  spur  and  throw  and 
kick  his  rider.  I  know  the  dog  that  has  no  stomach  for 
the  fight,  will  bite  the  hand  that  tarrs  him  on.  But  Vir- 
ginia is  uo  dull  ass ;  Virginia  is  no  coward  cur  ;  and  how- 
ever reluctant  to  strike  for  sordid  interest,  she  will  never 
disavow  those  who  pledge  her  honour  in  defence  of  honour. 
I  thank  God  that  he  has  spared  me  to  this  day.  Equality 
or  independence  is  the  watchword  of  Virginia.  One  of  these 
she  will  have;  and  if  I  can  be  at  all  instrumental  to  such, 
an  achievement,  I  shall  not  have  lived  in  vain. 

But  if  the  heart  of  Virginia  is  dead  within  her  ;  if  that 
spirit  which  has  been  to  me  the  breath  of  life,  is  fled ;  if 
that  fountain  of  just  principles  and  elevated  sentiments, 
from  which  as  from  the  milk  of  childhood,  my  heart  and 
mind  have  drawn  their  nutriment,  is  dried  up — there  is 
nothing  left  for  me,  sir,  but  to  lay  my  head  on  the  cold  bo- 
som of  my  venerated  and  lamented  mother,  and  to  die  there. 


OTilil  Mfie.^W'Hli 


JUST  PUBLISHED  BY 


WEST  &  JOHNSTON, 


THE  SOUTHERN  SPY.— Letters  on  the  policy  and  inau- 
pnration  of  the  Lincoln  war  ;  written  anonymously  in 
Washington  and  elsewhere,  by  Edward  A.  Pollard,  of 
Virginia,  author  of  "Black  Diamoiids." 

CONTENTS. 

1.  Letter  to  President  Lincoln,  written  nt  Wasliinjtton. 

2.  Letter  to  Presidcht  Lincoln,  written  nt  Wnshinoclon. 

3.  Letter  to  President  Lincoln,  written  at  Washington. 

4.  Lelfor  to  President  Lincoln,  written  near  tlie  Government. 

5.  Letter  to  the  Editor  of ,wr)tten  in  Mnryland. 

6.  Letter  to  Secretary  Seward,  written  in  ^^arvlJ^nd. 
T.  Letter  to  President  Lincoln, -written  in  Maryland. 

8.  Letter  to  Doctor  Tyn<j,  written  in  l?al!imore. 

9.  Letter  to  General  Scott,  written  in  Maryland. 

10.  Letter  to  Mr.  Everett,  written  in  .Maryland. 

PRICE  60  CENTS. 
Upon  the  receipt  of  the  price  it  will  be  sent  to  any  part  of  the  Southern  r  n- 
federacv. 


i  CAUSE  and  CONTRAST;  an  Essay  on  the  American  Crisis,  j 
I      13y  T.   W.  MacMahon. 

I  We  do  not  hesitate  to  aver — for  it  has  been  so  prononuiv.  .  _.  ,  ...,,i„  u..!  ....d 
:  distinpnished  critics — that  tliis  is  among  the  most  comprehensive,  brilliant, 
I  scholarly,  charmin;::f,  nblc  and  conclusive  books  that  has  yet  appeared  in  exposi- 
!  tion  of  Southern  political  philosophy.  Its  matter  is  erudite  and  profound,  and 
.' the  style  in  wiiich  it  is  composed  is 'rarely  rivalled.  While  blending  the  ear- 
I  liest  transactions  of  men  with  those  of  the  jirt sent,  it  is  as  fascinating  as  any 
I  novel — a  work  truly  suitable  for  both  sexes  ;  lor  the  student  and  the  peo))le.  In 
'  amplitude  of  illustration  it  is  rich,  classical  and  elegant ;  and  its  logic  is  invin- 
cible. 

The  following  are  commendations  by  gentlemen  who  read  portions  of 'the 
i  manuscript : 

From  /he  Richmond  Whiff.  I 

"It  discusses,  with  rare  ability  and  learning,  the  institution  of  slavery  in  all  | 
I  its  aspects,  as  well  as  the  social  and  political  distinctions   between  the  people  of! 
I  the  Confederate  States  and  those  of  the  U.  S.     The  style  is  ornate,  glowing  and  | 
!  eloquent.     We  predict  that  it  will   prod.ncc  a  .sensation;  take  its  place  among 
I  standard  literature;  and  have  the  eflect  of  banishing  from  our  midst  thv  hurtful 
j  offspring  of  the  morbid  and  prolific  press  of  the  Norlli."' 
Frarn  the  Dispatch. 
"We  have  read   portions  of  the  MSS.,  and  we  pronounce  it  beautiful,  excel- 
lent and  conclusive.     We  hope  that  it  will  obtain  the  circulation  that  it  merits, 
not  only  in  America,  but  in  Europe." 

We  might  continue  similar  extracts  from  the  Examiner,  Charleston  Mercury^ 
and  other  journals,  if  space  permitted.  The  work  will;5b^teady  in  a  few  days: 
one  octavo  volume,  pica  type,  and  published  at  okb  dollar,  Aviih  the  usual  dia- 
count  to  the  trade. 

Orders,  to  receive  prompt  attcniion.'-islTonId  be  addressed  to 

WEST   &   JOIIA'STON,  Publishers  and  BooJaeUcrs, 
145  Main  street,  Richmond,  Ya. 


